Special Reports

There is much concern among the international humanitarian relief agencies – and thus international organisations and governments – about a planned attempt to attack/capture/besiege Hodeida by President Hadi’s forces supported by the coalition. This is widely seen as the main objective of Operation Golden Spear. It is expected that one force will attack from the south, coming from the direction of Mocha and possibly another from the north coming from Midi. In addition, there will be a seaborn landing, possibly using facilities in ports of Berbera, Assab, and Djibouti. The Huthi/Saleh forces are clearly aware of all this and planning counter-measures, including

Hussain Ibrahim Qutrib
Associate Professor of Geomorphology
In early 2016 Bashar Al-Assad coined the term "Useful Syria", referring to six governorates encompassing Damascus, Rif Dimashq, Homs, Hama, Latakia, and Tartus. He stated that he will defend them with all his might, and considered remaining governorates as less strategic. The study hopes to track qualitative (ethnic, religious, and doctrinal) demographic changes of inhabitants, performed by the Syrian regime and its allies in these Governorates through forced migration operations, “siege and starvation” tactics

The visit of Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Tokyo in August and September 2016 resulted in the beginning of the reconfiguration of Saudi–Japanese economic cooperation into one that responds to the goals of Vision 2030 and the National Transformation Program 2020. In recent years, the two states have been keen on transforming their energybased bilateral relationship into what they have referred to as a ‘strategic’ and ‘multi-layered’ relationship. Today, as Saudi Arabia accelerates its efforts to achieve a transition to a post-oil economy, they have begun to cooperate on the creation of more diverse economic ties between